The 2002 China International Tea, Tea Sets and Tea Culture Festival opened Thursday in this capital city of east China's Fujian's Province.

A total of 210 domestic and foreign tea enterprises are taking part in the four-day event, displaying tea, tea drinks, tea sets, tea packaging, tea making machines and traditional Chinese tea culture.

The festival will feature a variety of forums, negotiations, auctions and tea shows to promote tea trade and tea cultural exchanges, sources said.

Fujian is well-known in China as a tea producer. Its output accounted for 20 percent of the country's total in 2001, with total sales reaching 11 billion yuan (1.3 billion US dollars), including exports worth 100 million US dollars.

( People's Daily September 13, 2002)